INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Given that rain had disrupted the Friday schedule, Thomas Nepveu and his #2 Cromwell | Karting Excellence | Home Hardware car prepared by Cape Motorsports took the start of the Cooper Tires Freedom 75 this morning (Saturday) on the Lucas Oil Raceway. This was his first start on an oval track, as he started 16th and gave us one of his patented super starts to move up to 15th place, which he held until the 31st lap of the race. He then held on to that position until lap 60 when he moved up to 14th position, where he eventually finished.

Thursday (May 27) was an important day for Thomas Nepveu: he covered some 150 laps over the two practice sessions in order to build his confidence in himself and in his car's capabilities and worked with his team to fine-tune the set-up as his level of experience and confidence grew throughout the day.

“On Thursday, Thomas improved in every session and his best laps were in qualifying, I am sure he has more confidence for the race. On Saturday, Thomas approached the race with the correct attitude. He had a good start and fought tooth-and-nail for 75 laps. He matched his qualifying time in race trim. It was a very good performance for his first oval race.” declared Dominic Cape, the president of Cape Motorsports, after the race.

Thomas Nepveu talks about his experiences on the track:
"Our goal in Thursday's practice was to gain confidence on the oval and understand the potential of my #2 Cromwell | Karting Excellence | Home Hardware car. The team added downforce for the second practice session, and I felt more comfortable in that session and in qualifying.

"In the race, my confidence continued to grow as the car worked perfectly, with the same set-up as my teammate Michael d'Orlando who took the win. I was ready to attack towards the halfway point of the race, but the lack of caution periods didn't allow me to move up to the front in the relatively heavy traffic around me in the final third of the race.

"I worked hard on my driving precision and staying focused throughout the race in order not to make any mistakes. I've learned a lot and I can't wait to get back to an oval track and apply the experience I gained today," explained Thomas Nepveu, the sole Canadian driver in this series.

Oval racing is an integral part of IndyCar, the target series for Thomas Nepveu. It makes sense for a development series like the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship to visit such a track to prepare the young drivers for the high-speed oval tracks visited by the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, such as Indianapolis, Texas Motor Speedway and World Wide Technology Raceway.

Thomas Nepveu and Cape Motorsports will be back on track with the #2 Cromwell | Karting Excellence | Home Hardware car from June 17 to 20 for the Road America event.